Voice controlled assistant with light indicator

• US 9,721,586 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Langhammer, Heinz-Dominik, Bay, Daniel Christopher, Sadek, Ramy S., Zimmer, Jason, Haskin, Menashe, Flenniken, Robert Ramsey
• Primary Examiner(s): Opsasnick, Michael N
• Application Number:
  US13/830,257
• Time in Patent Office: 1,601 Days
• Field of Search: 704275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/06 Transformation of speech into a non-audible representation, e.g. speech visualisation or speech processing for tactile aids G10L15/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/028 associated with devices performing functions other than acoustics, e.g. electric candles
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/345 for loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/401 2D or 3D arrays of transducers

Abstract

A voice controlled assistant has a housing to hold one or more microphones, one or more speakers, and various computing components. The housing has an elongated cylindrical body extending along a center axis between a base end and a top end. The microphone(s) are mounted in the top end and the speaker(s) are mounted proximal to the base end. A control knob is rotatably mounted to the top end of the housing to rotate about the center axis. A light indicator is arranged on the control knob to exhibit various appearance states to provide visual feedback with respect to the one or more functions being performed by the assistant. In one case, the light indicator is used to uniquely identify participants involved in a call.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a housing having a top end and a base end, the housing extending between the top end and the base end along a center axis;

one or more microphones arranged proximal to the top end of the housing to capture audio and generate an audio signal based on the captured audio;

a processor arranged within the housing to process the audio signal and to perform one or more functions;

memory arranged within the housing and accessible by the processor;

a network interface to communicate with a network, the network interface being configured to receive, from one or more remote senders, a first audio communication directed to a first recipient and a second audio communication directed to a second recipient;

one or more speakers arranged proximal to the base end of the housing to output audio sound including the audio communication;

a control knob rotatably mounted proximal to the top end of the housing to rotate about the center axis of the housing; and

a light indicator arranged on at least one of the housing or the control knob and configured to exhibit one or more appearance states to provide visual feedback with respect to the one or more functions being performed by the processor, wherein the light indicator exhibits a first appearance state upon receipt of the first audio communication directed to the first recipient and the light indicator exhibits a second appearance state upon receipt of the second audio communication directed to the second recipient.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores a first user profile that associates the first appearance state with the first recipient and a second user profile that associates the second appearance state with the second recipient.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the first appearance state is unique with respect to the first recipient and the second appearance state is unique with respect to the second recipient.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the light indicator is further configured to exhibit a third appearance state associated with at least one of the one or more remote senders.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the third appearance state is unique with respect to at least one remote sender of the one or more remote senders or a group of remote senders.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein a first radius from the center axis to an outer surface of the control knob is at least approximately equal to a second radius from the center axis to an outer surface of the housing.

6. A device comprising:

a housing comprising a center axis along a length of the housing;

an interface to receive an audio communication signal from a remote sender, the audio communication signal being directed to a recipient;

at least one speaker arranged in the housing to output audio sound representative of the audio communication signal;

a control knob rotatably coupled to the housing to facilitate control of at least one function being performed by the device, wherein the control knob is configured to rotate around the center axis of the housing; and

a light indicator having a light source and an illumination component, the illumination component being arranged on the control knob and the light source being configured to illuminate, upon receipt of the audio communication signal from the remote sender, the illumination component in at least one of a first appearance state representing an identity of the recipient or a second appearance state representing an identity of the remote sender.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the illumination component comprises an annular light pipe coupled to an outer periphery of the control knob.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein:

the illumination component is optically coupled to receive light from the light source and to display the light external to the device; and

the lighting indicator further comprises a light indicator controller configured to control the light source according to at least one of a color of the light, an intensity of the light, and a timing of when to output the light.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the light source comprises multiple light emitting diodes (LEDs) that are optically coupled to the illumination component, and the light indicator controller is configured to individually control each of the LEDs according to at least one of a color, on/off state, intensity of the light emitted by the LEDs, and relative timing of each LED with respect to the other LEDs.

10. The device of claim 6, wherein the first and second appearance states comprises at least one of (1) a solid state in which all LEDs are illuminated, (2) a varied state in which at least one but not all of the LEDs are illuminated, (3) a sequence state in which the LEDs are illuminated in an order, (4) an animation state in which the LEDs are illuminated according to a pattern, (5) a random state in which the LEDs are illuminated in a pseudo-random manner, or (6) a directional state in which the LEDs are illuminated to exhibit a direction of input or output of the audio sound.

11. The device of claim 6, wherein the function is selected from a group of functions comprising operation-based functions, application-driven functions, communication-related functions, security-related functions, and entertainment functions.

12. The device of claim 6, wherein the housing comprises a cylindrical-shaped body, and an outer surface of the control knob is substantially flush with an outer surface of the cylindrical-shaped body of the housing in a radial direction with respect to the center axis.

13. The device of claim 6, wherein the interface comprises a wireless interface to receive the audio communication signal from a separate communication device proximal to the device.

14. A device comprising:

a housing comprising a center axis along a length of the housing;

at least one microphone to receive audio input and generate a corresponding audio signal;

a processing component to process the audio signal and to perform one or more functions;

a network interface to communicate with a network, the network interface being configured to transmit the processed audio signal over the network and to receive at least one of a message or event from a remote device over the network;

at least one speaker to output audio;

a light indicator arranged to emit light externally of the housing according to one of multiple appearance states, wherein the light indicator is configured to;

emit a first appearance state representing an identity of an intended recipient of the message, and

emit a second appearance state representing an identity of the event; and

a control knob rotatably mounted on the housing to rotate about the center axis of the housing, wherein the light indicator is arranged on the control knob.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the event comprises at least one of an email event, a calendar event, a warning event, and an alarm event.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein the light indicator comprises multiple illumination segments that are individually controllable to at least one of emit different colors or emit the light according to different timings.